Don't Look Back
Amanda Quick
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Buy *Don't Look Back* online

Don't Look Back

Amanda Quick
Bantam
Paperback
416 pages
April 2003
rated 4 of 5 possible stars

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Amanda Quick (a.k.a Jayne Ann Krentz) is back with the detective team of Lake and March in yet another invigorating and breathtaking case of murder and mystery. They are perfect lovers and difficult partners, but one thing they both excel in is solving a case and watching out for each other at the same time.

This time a new and very disturbing case is offered to them. What makes it so unsettling is that 'mesmerism' plays pivotal role -- not a subject to be toyed with, nor easily dismissed as so much 'nonsense,' as Tobias March is inclined to do. His attitude is thoroughly infuriating to Lavinia Lake, the daughter of mesmerists and one who also possesses an inborn talent for it -- a talent she no longer uses because of a tragic instance in her past. But then two men from her mysterious past re-enter her life, arousing March's unadmitted jealousy as well as alerting his dependable sense of danger.

What does a mysterious bracelet of British-Roman history, burdened with a terrible legend and known only as the Blue Medusa, have to do with it all? Who wants it so badly and who has it? Murder happens, theft occurs, so does fraud. Danger seems everywhere as Lavinia strides headlong into trouble, with an extremely irked and worried Tobias not far behind. For the two lovers and head-butting partners, juggling crime and lust is not an entirely unmanageable task. This results in not only raising the temperature of the book, but also in providing readers with welcome breaks of humor. Surrounded by aspiring detectives and hampered by charlatans, Lavinia and Toby still somehow manage to get to the bottom of things, a process threatened by tons of peril and close shaves with death.

Amanda Quick is brilliant at creating romantic books of historical fiction combined with a tantalizing mystery that is successful in whetting the appetites of readers of many genres. In Don't Look back, Lake and March fight and love and capture the reader's attention without letting go. Secondary characters and red herrings galore make for an adventurous brainteaser. Quick describes her Regency England setting very visually, and conveys the atmosphere of impending danger authentically. The quick and witty dialogue is also a joy to read. An excellent book by a read-worthy author.


© 2002 by Rashmi Srinivas for Curled Up With a Good Book


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